Lasthénie de Ferjol syndrome: a rare disease with fascinating history.

In our paper, we present the fascinating story of Lasthénie de Ferjol syndrome. A rare self-induced iron deficiency anaemia caused by surreptitious blood-letting. The French haematologist Jean Bernard first described the syndrome and named it after the heroine of Barbey d' Aurevilly's novel The Story without a Name. This factitious anaemia presents a great challenge for physicians even today, both in diagnosis and in therapy.